GF 323
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CONFIDENTIAL
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
5
機密
To get the ship to continue on its voyage to Kaohsiung:
to tow the vessel away (which was regarded as impracticable for the reasons described in para. 13 above).
to leave the vessel where it was whilst applying psychological pressure on the Master and refugees to leave; and
to allow the vessel to enter Hong Kong waters.
It was considered unlikely that option (a) would succeed; and option (c) could only be maintained as long as the weather remained reasonable. Although it was accepted, therefore, that option (d) would eventually be reached, it was recommended that the ship should be left where she was for as long as possible while option (a) was pursued.
An account of the measures which were taken to persuade the "Hucy Fong' to sail to Taivan is at Annex C.
THE ADMITTANCE OF THE "HUEY FONG" TO HONG KONG
17.
18.
Executive Council, at its meeting on 2nd January, advised the Governor that the "Huey Fong" should be left where she was for as long as possible while efforts continued to get the ship to sail to Taiwan. However, it was recognised that very bad weather, a fire or serious disorder on board, or a deterioration in health on board, or a situation in which the Master openly threatened to scuttle his ship might make it necessary to allow the ship to enter harbour. On 3rd January, the Operations Group began to consider contingency plans to deal with these situations. At the same time, it considered contingency plans for handling the ship and the refugees in the event that it did not go to Taiwan and had to be admitted to Hong Kong eventually. These plans are described in more detail in paras. 27 to 31 below.
19.
On 5th January, in a telegram to the Foreign and Commonwealth office, the Government said that it was already clear that their attempts to get the Master to continue his journey were likely to fail, and that it would become impractical for both logistic and presentational reasons, to continue supplying the ship where it was for a prolonged period. The Government intimated that it proposed to bring the ship in some time the following week, assuming that the new legal powers which had been drafted were approved by Legislative Council on 10th January. The ship would be put in a remote anchorage for the processing of those on board which would include interrog- ation of the Captain and crew to discover the truth about how they picked up the refugees. The telegram emphasised that it would be necessary to counter adverse local reaction to any change of policy by seeking help in moving on quickly a large number of those refugees already in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement.
CONFIDENTIAL
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